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Main content

From Right to Left

1)Elizabeth Fudge, Adelaide, Southern Australia - Australian National COPMI Coordinator
2) Dr. David Hay, Professor, Curtin University , Perth, Western Australia
3) Dr. Darryl Mayberry, Professor, Charles Sturt University, New South Wales
4) Vicki Cowling, COPMI Coordinator for New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales
5) Dr. Joanne Nicholson, Professor, University of Massachusetts. Medical School, Boston
6) Dr. Rob Lees, BC

COPMI Down Under

Australia has been the leader in a number of mental health initiatives now widely adopted in British Columbia. The FRIENDS anxiety prevention program, now implemented in every school district in BC is one example. The Early Psychosis Initiative (EPI) is another. No surprise then that Australia is leading the world in the development of strategies to help children of parents with mental illness (COPMI). Since the 1990’s they have had a national initiative funded through their federal (Commonwealth) government and delivered by the Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent, Family Mental Health Association (AICAFMHA). This organization was recently provided funding to develop a proposal for a third phase of COMPI work over the years 2007 – 2010.

The Australian government has identified three groups of children at greater risk of developing mental health problems; 1. Aboriginal, 2. COPMI and 3. children who have experienced trauma, grief and loss. Since COMPI issues spill over into trauma, grief and loss, AICAFMHA was able to develop a proposal that could target both populations.

The proposal was to address a number of specific issues; early intervention for primary school children with early behavioural signs or symptoms of mental health problems; targeted resources for children at greatest risk, intervention in early childhood; support for parenting programs, the provision of practical evidence based information for children, young people and their families and finally, evaluation.

The AICAFMHA approach was to develop a draft document to be reviewed by a number of stakeholders from around Australia. This included several consumers, youth and two international visitors, myself and Dr. Joanne Nicholson from Boston.

The group spent a day sequestered in a conference room discussing the AICAFMHA proposal. As these things often go, the general draft directions were supported with revisions and improvements suggested by the meeting. A next- to- final document will be circulated to the stakeholders before final submission to the government for funding. Chances are reasonable that the proposal will be funded since the government had a representative at the entire meeting and had paid for the proposal development phase.

Since it is a national initiative, the initiatives discussed were quite broad. Strategies included "information provision" , "workforce development support", "research and critical analysis" . A communication strategy and governance of the intiative were also included in the proposal. Of benefit to those of us in BC, if the proposal moves ahead they have asked Dr. Nicholson and myself to be part of the "International Reference Group". Using teleconference we would be able, under this plan, to contribute to and learn from the Australian initiative.

The Australian COPMI strategy already has a great web site, which will be further improved as this initiative roles out. (There is a link on our web site www.parentalmentalillness.org). I learned that there are COPMI initiatives in all the "states" of Australia. In some places, they have focussed on demonstration projects such as the "Vic Champs" (State of Victoria, ) which are kid focussed programs like our Kids in Control (BC Schizophrenia Society) or "Super Saturday Club" (Vancouver Coastal). In Western Australia and its largest city, Perth, they have an initiative similar to the emphasis in British Columbia on protocols between agencies and collaborative workforce practices. Where we differ, is that here we have focussed our energy to a greater degree on community education and awareness and in particular, on whole families, not only the children. I did notice however, that the State of Victoria, the second largest state (province) is currently rolling out of number of positions called FaPMI (Families with Parental Mental Illness) with an intentional effort to focus on whole families.

I’ll write in this space again about other parts of my visit to Australia. For example, I attended a National Planning day on research and evaluation on COPMI themes organized by Dr. David Hay of Curtin University, Perth. As well I visited Dr. Darryl Maybery’s University in Wagga Wagga (Charles Sturt University) and another town about the size of Chilliwack, Wondonga, where I conducted a workshop on Ulysses Agreements.

I came away with some envy that their federal government have COPMI as a significant priority, but on the other hand, aware that in many ways their experience has been similar to that of our "working group". Things have happened because, as Margret Mead would say, "A committed group of citizens" met together to attempt to change the world.

Rob Lees